meatless monday: bärlauch soup (wild garlic soup)

Living in a foreign country is fantastic in so many ways, but it’s not without its daily challenges–namely that everything is…foreign. The most menial of tasks take us twice as long simply because we can’t figure out where to go, how to do it or how to ask for it once we’re there. For the first year a half, Mr. KC and I walked 20 minutes uphill with our recycling only to find out that there was a recycling depot 5 minutes away right next to the grocery store we go to at least 3x/week. It’s just part of figuring out life in a new place.

I’m going to categorize the “discovery” of bärlauch as part of this learning curve. For the past 3 springs, I’ve been completely unaware of bärlauch, otherwise known as wild garlic or ramps. It was just one more German word, I had simply not gotten around to learning, but now that I know it, I see it everywhere. The pizza guy downstairs offers a bärlauch pizza, restaurants feature bärlauch all over the place. How did we not see this before?

It’s hard to describe, but really quite nice–kind of like a garlicky, leafy version of spring onions. After picking up a couple of bunches at the farmer’s market, I noticed they were also handing out recipe for bärlauch soup. For a creamy soup, this one is actually quite light and thin. In the future, I would add a potato to the soup to thicken it up, but after this soup (and a few other dishes around town) I can say, I’m officially a member of “Team Bärlauch” (t-shirt in the works).

bärlauch (wild garlic or ramps) soupthis recipe is easily halved to make less soup — halving the recipe made enough for 4 bowls of soup for us

ingredients

100g bärlauch/ramps (3.5 ounces)

150 grams of spring onions (5.5 ounces or 3 heads)

2 dl white wine (1/2 plus 1/3 cups)

250 ml cream (1 cup)

125 grams creme fraiche or sour cream (4.5 ounces)

5 dl vegetable broth (2 cups)

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

pepper

salt

for future use, one potato chopped up into small bits

directions

In a dutch oven or heavy pot with tightly fitted lid, heat butter and olive oil on medium-high heat.

Add chopped bärlauch and spring onions to pot and allow to heat up until softened (about 4-5 minutes).

Add white wine, cream, creme fraiche and vegetable broth. (this is also where I would add the potatoes for next time)

Bring mixture to a slow simmer and cover.

Allow to cook for 25-30 minutes (or until the potato is soft).

Remove from heat and add to blender mixture to blender.

Blend on low until consistency is smooth.

Add salt and pepper to taste (I used homemade veggie broth, so I ended up adding quite a bit of salt, but if you’re using store-bought broth, you’ll likely find you need to use less.)

It is great (and not overpowering), but definitely go with a potato to thicken it up. My biggest complaint about the soup is that it was so thin, which seems off for a cream soup. I’m posting another wild garlic/ramps recipe here shortly that stole the show (biscuits). Should be up tomorrow if you want to stop back.